COMPETITIVE PRACTICES
IN HAWAII'S HEALTH
CARE INDUSTRY

CONFIDENTIAL OPINION SURVEY
EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PREPAID HEALTH PLANS

Please fill in blanks or circle as appropriate.
I. ABOUT YOUR FIRM
A. Number of years in business in Hawaii
B. Number of employees participating in your prepaid health plans, by county:
Honolulu______Hawaii______ Kauai______ Maui______
C. Type of business
D. Is one or more of your employees assigned to work exclusively in the area of
human resourcel personnel management? Yes No
E. Is your work force unionized? Yes No
If Yes:
1. Is the choice of health plan providers bargained? Yes No
2. Are health plan benefits bargained? Yes No
II. ABOUT YOUR GROUP HEALTH PLANS
A. Number of health plans your firm offers
B. Is your health plan coverage provided through a parent organization
or business affiliation such as a franchise?
C. Names of the organizations (for example, HMSA, Kaiser, Permanente, HMSA, etc.)
that administer your health plans:
D. In selecting a health plan, are the following factors: 1 very
important; 2 important but not a deciding factor on its own; 3 a minor item?
1. Amount of premium
2 Premium stability
3. Plan benefits
4. Geographic area served
5. Plan preferred by employees
6. Advise/recommendations of colleagues
7 Previous experience with plan provider
8. Willingness of plan provider to negotiate
E Have you ever used an independent agent to help negotiate and select your firm's
health plans? Yes No
1. If Yes, were you satisfied with result? Yes No
2. If No, would you consider using an independent agency in the future?
Yes No
III. YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE WITH HEALTH PLAN PROVIDERS
A. During the past 5 years, have you changed health plan providers for any
of the following reasons:
1. Unacceptable premium increase. Yes No
2. Plan administered poorly. Yes No
3. Competitive premium/coverage package offered by another provider. Yes No
4. Provider refused to negotiate critical issues or negotiated in bad faith. Yes No
5. Plan cancelled by provider. Yes No
6. Other (describe briefly)
IV. YOUR EVALUATION OF COMPETITION AMONG HEALTH PLAN PROVIDERS
A. From your perspective as a consumer of group health plans, would you say that:
1. The current level of ccmpetition among Hawaii's health plan providers
gives you a good choice of health plan products and prices. Yes No
2. There isn't any real competition in the areas
a. Costs Yes No
b. Benefits Yes Nc
3. Excessive competition is threatening the delivery and quality of care
undersome plans. Yes No
B. During the past five years, competition among health plan providers has:
1. Increased. Yes No
2. Stayed about the same. Yes No
3. Decreased. Yes No
C. Should more plan providers be encouraged to enter the Hawaii health
plan marketplace? Yes No
V. YOUR VIEWS ON STATE REGULATION OF HEALTH PLAN PROVIDERS
A. Should the State regulate:
1. Health pran premiums? Yes No
2. Rate setting methods used by plan providers? Yes Nc
3. Financjat practices of plan providers? Yes No
B. Should there be a cap on the percentage of the labor force that any
one provider can cover? Yes No
C. Should the State encourage the formation of health plan purchasing
cooperatives for small businesses and so(e proprietors? Ves No
D. Should unfair competitive practices for health plan providers be
defined and monitored by the State? Yes No